Time is dragging on very slowly at the moment. Since we got down from Drifika six days ago we have had heavy rain in base camp every day, all day. We needed some snow, but I dread to think how much it has put down in the last week up high. In the fleeting glimpses we get of K6 through the clouds it is plastered with snow and has taken on a very wintery look. But it's all good and hopefully when the weather settles the conditions will be much better.
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| Gone are the blue skies and sunshine – a wet and gloomy base camp |
On these trips I don’t mind a few days of bad weather at first, especially after just getting down from a few days up high. The forced rest days are good as it is hard to make yourself take them whilst the sun is shining. But after six days of it, as soothing as the sound of rain falling on the tent is, frustration does start to show!
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| No matter what the weather Ali and Ali keeping producing a seemingly unlimited quantity of food |
The daily routine of waking up to the sound of rain, breakfast, read, lunch, read, watch a movie, snooze, dinner, bed, is all very restful to start with and probably sounds like the perfect holiday to a lot of people, with no distractions of mobile phones, news and no internet apart from e-mails it is about as peaceful and restful as you can get. But that’s not what we’re here for and with a lot of time to think I often find myself questioning why I do these trips. The amount of unproductive and wasted time really gets to me, but then that’s all part of the game I guess. It is quite funny how the little things you do every day and think nothing of at home like shaving and washing clothes almost add excitement to the day!
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| K6 slowly emerges from the clouds for a brief spell |
After a very brief sunny spell this morning the rain is falling as hard as ever, so it is back to my annual attempt to learn French and listen to a few hours of French lessons to try and make the most of the down time. I try on every expedition, but never seem to make it past the second CD… The weather is meant to improve in the next few days so hopefully we’ll be able to escape base camp again soon.
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| Jon eagerly checking the weather forecast for good news… |
Hope the weather improves for you guys soon. The mountains there look fantastic. Really appreciate the regular updates to the blog and amazed you can do that from such a remote location - is that all done over a sat phone?
ReplyDeleteGood luck, Paul.
Hi Paul,
DeleteThe boys just have e-mail access through the sat phone. Andy sends through a text e-mail with photo attachments and luckily he has a lovely girlfriend who posts them on the blog for him ;) I'll pass on your good luck.